Letter: 'Minimum wage' harms work force

There are those in our over-burdened state who want to increase the minimum wage. Well, I just want to put in my two cents, as I run several businesses. These advocacy agencies -- usually nonprofits that get their funding from tax dollars -- have no concept how to create or keep a job.

Look, a minimum-wage job enables most young people who normally have no experience -- I repeat, no experience -- to get into an entry position. This allows them to get some job experience by trading their time, skill or talent to learn how to do something new that an employer needs accomplished and thereby begin to support themselves.

Consequentially, they get self-discipline by honest work, which increases their own self-esteem, becoming more valuable not only to their employer, but to society as they begin to climb the ladder up the payscale. As you gain experience and become more valuable, you can negotiate with your employer and your pay can go up.

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But to think that a business is an endless supply of cash, you must be smoking something. If the minimum wage is raised as proposed by some to $10 an hour, well, why not $20? Why not? Well, the businesses I run have had no choice but to cut back or we no longer hire a younger person at all. Boy, who do you think is the big loser in all of that?

You who want to keep on increasing this significant entry-level cost, do you want to stop those from gaining potential valuable experience? No wonder why the teen unemployment is out of sight. Those pushing this agenda have no concept what is required to keep a business in business, especially in New York state.

But employers, you also have a responsibility. You must be fair to your employees, too. Pay them a fair wage. Unfortunately, greed is one of the major problems we have in this society. Don't be a Scrooge.

Oh, and by the way, I am required to submit a budget to the federal government -- something our politicians apparently no longer know how to do over the last three or four years. I would be fired if I didn't. Perhaps this may be a novel idea for voters to practice in Washington, D.C.